He made it clear he was not blaming Pirelli for Ferrari's lack of competitiveness but said if the tyre was more durable, "at least you could drive".

Hembery responded by saying: "Of course Alonso is one of the great F1 drivers, so to hear such comments is disappointing and below the standards you would expect from such a champion.

"I can only suggest he goes to ask the soon-to-be four-times champion how to get the best from the same tyres."

Alonso's criticisms that the tyres were too fragile were borne out by events in the race, when McLaren's Sergio Perez suffered a dramatic failure shortly after heavily locking up his brakes.

It is the latest in a series of failures in races by Pirelli tyres this season - the company was forced to make the design of its tyres more durable following seven failures in one race at the British Grand Prix.

Officials were forced to neutralise the race with a safety car while the debris from Perez's tyre was cleaned up, but not before Red Bull's Mark Webber suffered a puncture after running over it.

Webber said: "Pirelli will put the tyre puncture of Perez down to a lock-up but the reason the drivers are locking up is because there's no tread left.

Pirelli has been asked by F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone to produce tyres that deliberately wear out quickly to promote more pit stops and better racing.

Asked what he thought about the races being dominated by tyre management, Webber said: "That's the way the new Formula 1 is.

"The drivers aren't super important. It's what other people want, but that's the way it is. The tyres are wearing a lot and they also explode a bit as well but that's for Pirelli to sort out."

Alonso said after the race: "We speak with facts and they [Pirelli] just use words. Everybody can see that.

"These are tyres that won't last a lap, but as we said [on Saturday], we have zero problems with the performance. It's us who haven't adapted to these 2012 tyres. It's up to us Ferrari, or the drivers, to improve.

"But the tyre marbles [bits of discarded rubber off line] are there, and when it rains they have to stop the races, and then Perez has a blow-out... So we know the tyres are on the limit in terms of quality.

"Hembery had not heard this and he made a mistake, and he came to apologise, so we are thankful for that."